Shelters Japan

Seven months after a killer earthquake ravaged this city, Kobe's government said Sunday that it is closing all 260 of its remaining refugee centers and cutting off free food for residents made homeless by January's temblor. About 7,600 people who still have not found housing were asked to vacate the centers, particularly at schools, where they have been living since the Jan. 17 quake.

Japan has sent thousands of rescue workers to the northeastern coastal area devastated by Friday's earthquake, including officials attempting to prevent a meltdown at a nuclear reactor damaged in the quake. The death toll from the 8.9-magnitude quake and associated tsunami reached 680 Saturday and may reach 1,000, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. According to official figures, 642 people are missing and 1,426 injured. Photos: Scenes from the earthquake Officials in Miyagi prefecture said 10,000 residents, more than half the population of the town of Minami-Sanriku, couldn't be located after the earthquake, NHK reported.

Japan has sent thousands of rescue workers to the northeastern coastal area devastated by Friday's earthquake, including officials attempting to prevent a meltdown at a nuclear reactor damaged in the quake. The death toll from the 8.9-magnitude quake and associated tsunami reached 680 Saturday and may reach 1,000, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. According to official figures, 642 people are missing and 1,426 injured. Photos: Scenes from the earthquake Officials in Miyagi prefecture said 10,000 residents, more than half the population of the town of Minami-Sanriku, couldn't be located after the earthquake, NHK reported.

Seven months after a killer earthquake ravaged this city, Kobe's government said Sunday that it is closing all 260 of its remaining refugee centers and cutting off free food for residents made homeless by January's temblor. About 7,600 people who still have not found housing were asked to vacate the centers, particularly at schools, where they have been living since the Jan. 17 quake.

Japan's government Friday urged residents living within 18 miles of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to voluntarily leave their homes and suggested that officials could expand the mandatory evacuation zone. People living within 12 miles of the plant have been evacuated, yet those living between 12 and 18 miles of the facility have been told it is safe to remain as long as they stay indoors. But two weeks after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country and hobbled the plant, causing radiation to leak, the situation has yet to be resolved.

Radioactive water continued to seep into the sea Monday after a failed attempt to seal the leak at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant using an absorbent polymer, sawdust and shredded paper. Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials think the leak has been coming from an 8-inch crack in the concrete pit holding power cables near reactor No. 2. On Monday, Tepco said it would use a dye to try to trace the path of the leak, Kyodo News reported. Radiation levels in the pit water are an estimated 1,000 millisieverts per hour, a high but not immediately lethal dose.